Flanked by Thomas Müller and Joshua Kimmich, Willy Sagnol stepped out of the dressing room at 16:16 on Friday afternoon. For the 40-year-old it was his first training session as caretaker coach of FC Bayern, who parted company with Carlo Ancelotti yesterday. “Willy Sagnol is our interim coach,” sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic had confirmed to journalists shortly beforehand.
Sagnol, who was previously assistant coach, has the task of preparing the team for the next Bundesliga game at Hertha BSC on Sunday and getting a positive result after the 2-2 draw against Wolfsburg and the 3-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. “I expect a reaction from the players on Sunday. There are no excuses any more. The important thing now is the game in Berlin. Nothing less than a win will do and we need to give everything to get it,” Salihamidzic declared.
While Sagnol will make sure that “we have a top team on the pitch,” Salihamidzic stated, behind the scenes the search for a new head coach has begun. Salihamidzic did not want to reveal anything about potential candidates or a detailed job profile. “We’re examining all possibilities. When we come to a decision, we’ll appoint the new coach.”
Salihamidzic highlighted again that it’s “not a normal situation for Bayern” to change coach so early in the season. “We all regret it a lot. We need to first let the dust settle and take stock.” It’s “not been easy” for Ancelotti either, stressed the former Bayern player. As well as Ancelotti, his colleagues Davide Ancelotti, Giovanni Mauri, Francesco Mauri and Mino Fulco were also relieved of their duties.
However Salihamidzic made it clear that FC Bayern have to react after recent games. “We’ve felt that the team hasn’t developed in the way we want them to at FC Bayern. We’ve watched on with concern because we’ve not played well. We hoped it would be better.” The resounding 3-0 defeat in the Champions League group game in Paris was “the straw that broke the camel’s back. We were forced to act because we could see it wasn’t getting any better.”
After the match in Berlin there’s a two-week international break. FCB will use this time to “find the best coach for FC Bayern in this situation,” according to Salihamidzic. “We need a coach who’ll tackle all the issues we have, who’ll find the right solutions for FC Bayern. That’s not an easy task because we’re in the middle of the season, but we’ll certainly find a good solution,” he continued, before offering a positive conclusion: “You don’t need to worry about FC Bayern. We’ll come out of this situation stronger.”